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Flemingdon Park tenants plan to withhold cheques in rent hike protest

Tenants in Flemingdon Park, poised to fight a possible rent hike, are hoping the successful outcome of a “rent strike” in Parkdale last year bodes well for them.

“Parkdale has really paved the way in terms of setting an example about how this can be done,” said lawyer Kevin Laforest, who represents a group of tenants in a large, lowrise building near Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave.

Much like those in Parkdale, Laforest notes, the Flemingdon Parktenants are not relying on politicians to have their concerns heard, but rather are banding together to show “we can have a say in this; our power lies in our numbers.”

Tenants are planning to hold back rent cheques starting Wednesday, Aug. 1, to protest an application by owner the Minto Group for an increase of 4.8 per cent above the provincial guideline.

Last August, tenants in the downtown west neighbourhood of Parkdale won several concessions from one of the city’s largest landlords, MetCap Living Management Inc., after withholding rent for nearly four months. The results, residents say, have been positive and lasting.

“From my experience, the balance of power has shifted in favour of the tenants,” says Steven Love, a volunteer with tenant advocacy group Parkdale Organize and a resident of a building run by MetCap on Tyndall Ave. “It is much better. They are responding quicker, but they respond better if you go as a group.”

Love, along with hundreds of others in multiple buildings, stopped paying rent between May and early August of last year and took to the streets to protest the conditions of their units and MetCap’s applications for rent hikes. One building faced a potential increase of 9 per cent divided over three years.

The province sets annual rent increases, which this year and next are capped at 1.8 per cent. A landlord wanting a larger increase must apply and defend their request in front of the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Tenant groups claim landlords use the increases to force out existing tenants because landlords can charge any amount for an empty apartment. Landlords say the increases are the only way to recoup costs for necessary and expensive repairs, often in older buildings.

In Parkdale, the strike ended with MetCap and tenants negotiating rent increases — to avoid a long tribunal process — and agreeing to engage in open discussions about future increases. The exact details of the agreement are confidential.

MetCap hired a full-time community liaison to facilitate conversations about rent, beefed up staffing to speed up minor repairs, inspected units to get ahead of repair issues and created a program in which tenants can apply for relief from an above-the-guideline increase if they feel it is a financial hardship. Love says that program has been a “big help for people who are disabled” or on fixed incomes.

“An improved relationship with residents is proof the steps we have taken are working,” MetCap chief executive officer Brent Merrill said in an emailed statement. “However, this continues to be a work in progress, and we are always looking to find ways to improve our operations and better serve our residents.”

The success of the Parkdale “strike” also emboldened tenants in another Parkdale building to withhold rent from their landlord, Nuspor Investments, which, after two months, withdrew an application for a 1.6 per cent above-guideline increase.

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On the other side of the city, in Flemingdon Park, tenant Miroslav Mizikar Jr., who lives with his pregnant wife and infant son, as well as his mother, father and sister, is helping to organize tenants to follow suit.

He says their unit had almost no heat last winter and is stifling in summer. “I want to be in a good apartment,” said Mizikar, 21, who got involved because he wants to empower his neighbours and ensure better conditions in his building. “I want to help my community,” he said.

About 200 tenants in the 330-unit building could take part in the rent strike, said lawyer Laforest. During the Parkdale protests, Laforest had to jump out of the path of a truck driven by Merrill, who told the Star he was trying to help a frightened staff member hurriedly escape the crowd. No charges were filed.

Minto spokesperson John Dickie said the 4.8 per cent increase would be over two years and is an effort to recoup some of the $5.8-million cost of structural repairs, including upgrades to heating, plumbing and electrical systems and improvements to the fire systems, security and the underground garage.

Dickie said Mintohas dealt with all repairs as quickly as possible, and had reached out to residents to discuss the renovations, but tenant leaders have resisted meeting with them.

Dickie warns that withholding rent could result in eviction proceedings.

Flemingdon Park consists of 1,345 households, a mix of private and public housing, and 25.7 per cent of all that stock is in need of serious repairs, according to 2016 census data. The area is also primed for development, with the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line expected to open as early as 2021.

“It is prime real estate, and I think the writing is on the wall here,” Laforest said. “You have people in a very vulnerable position who, if they are forced to leave, it would be very difficult for them to find a new place to live.”

But the residents aren’t going without a fight, said Laforest, who predicts their efforts will be successful.

“These are people who have faced so many challenges from day to day that they are more than well prepared to take this on as well.”

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